The Mongolia Diaries: Day Six

A rough idea of our route so far

I awoke fairly early after a nice, long sleep. Breakfast was served at 9:00AM and we hit the road shortly after. The plan was to stop for lunch and a hot shower in the southern city of Dalanzadgad before making our way to the Gobi Gurvansaikhan National Park.

Upon arrival in Dalanzadgad, we were taken to a set of gers. Our guide invited us into the family ger to meet the family. We were served fermented camel's milk. Ugh. I was starting to feel bad about not drinking what was put in front of me. I didn't want to be wasteful but the families never spoke any English to politely decline and explain that I don't drink milk.

After our short visit in the family ger, the guide started preparing lunch. While she was doing that, our driver took us to some public showers in the city. It was 3,000 Tugrik (NT$35/CAN$1.48) for a hot shower with decent water pressure. I was surprised that only two out of the six of us opted to go for a shower! We had no idea when our next shower would be, so I took advantage while I knew the option was there! Running water! Our driver, Ogie, showered as well!

After lunch, which was spaghetti in a tomato sauce with some veggies and goat's meat and by far the best meal to date, we took off to an ice field called Yolyn Am. It was quite hot during the day so we were very surprised to come across a huge chunk of ice in the gorge.

After our quick visit of Yolyn Am we drove down into another part of the canyon and the drive down was insane! I thought the van was going to tip over onto its side at many points. I was starting to understand why a Russian van was needed for this type of trip.

When we got into the canyon, it took my breath away. The different shades of greens and yellows and browns against the blue, blue skies were stunning. We were only ten minutes into the hike before I lost sight of my group. I was dawdling and taking photos yet rushing to keep up with them for most of the trek. I wanted to keep my group in sight to be sure I was going the right way but I also wanted to enjoy my surroundings.

At some point, I was able to get the guide's attention by waving my arms. I asked if we could slow it down a notch which the group understood as me wanting to rest. Everyone stopped for about five minutes before continuing on at full pace to the end of the canyon. Sigh. I am sure the guide could sense my disappointment so she hung back and told me to take my time.

My guide told me that most groups take two to three hours to go through the canyon ... and so they should! What an amazing place! We did it in one hour and forty minutes according to the one of the Australian girls who was wearing a FitBit. I was starting to understand that my group and I had very different ideas of what traveling was about.

After our jog through the canyon, [insert eye roll] we stopped at a tiny taxidermy museum. I can't find it on Google Maps nor can I find anything about it online. It was full of animals native to Mongolia, and while it was interesting to see all of the different animals, it was a little eerie at the same time.

We were planning to camp near the canyon but upon return, we had learned that our driver knew about a festival happening the following day where there would be horse races and Mongolian wrestling. I wasn't terribly excited but the Australian girls and the German girls decided they wanted to go. It meant an extra 100KM of driving so we would be closer to the festival the next morning. I wasn't thrilled about more driving but the plans weren't up to me and going to a traditional Mongolia festival wasn't a bad idea.

We drove until almost sundown. As the sun was getting close to setting, the driver pulled a sharp right into a huge open field and it was there that we set up camp. We were in the middle of nowhere!

The most awesome thing and one of the highlights of my trip happened that evening. The sun was setting on the horizon on one side while the moon was rising from the horizon at the exact same time on the opposite side. It was a spectacular thing to watch and I found myself giggling like a little girl as I turned my head from the right to the left to the right to the left.

My group was playing cards at the time and hardly looked up after I tried explaining my excitement of why I was jumping up and down with joy. I can't recall ever seeing this happen before and while I know it happens, I've never been in an area so flat and vast (that I recall) that I've been able to experience it! And the awesomeness continued for a number of nights after with huge glowing orange nearly full moons! The other nights were not as exact as this particular evening. All I know is that I could hardly sleep after witnessing it! Just phenomenal!

Around 4:30AM a massive, massive wind storm came that was intensely scary. I thought my tent was going to blow away with me in it. I wasn't able to get any sleep after it had started. It was an interesting 4:30AM wake up call!